


I Think I'll Miss This One This Year

by Archangelsanonymous (Pattypixie)



Series: Christmas Fics [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chance Meetings, Christmas Fluff, Cynicism, Dating, M/M, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 08:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13096716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pattypixie/pseuds/Archangelsanonymous
Summary: Sam and Gabriel met last year, and spent the whole year trying to get together but nothing seemed to work out. They're just about to give up, but the universe has a better idea.





	I Think I'll Miss This One This Year

**Author's Note:**

> Based on one of my fave Christmas songs: "Christmas Wrapping"

Gabriel collapsed on the couch, one leg hanging off as he caught his breath from carrying two armfuls of gifts up the two flights of stairs that led to his apartment. They had been sitting in his car for at least a week and, of course, he had waited until Christmas Eve to wrap them. He was pretty sure he had crossed off everyone on his list, but he still wondered if it was all worth it. Sure, Christmas was his favorite holiday, but it all seemed like such a chore for something that passed in a blur. He had decided to spend Christmas alone at least, the family celebration being held the following weekend, but he wished he would have just done what he did last year and taken a trip somewhere far away.

A smile appeared on his face as he recalled the guy he had met in the Colorado ski lodge he had vacationed at. Sam had been tall, gorgeous, and unfortunately leaving the day after he had arrived. They met at the bar and hit it off almost immediately. Gabriel was sure that some unknown power was looking out for him because once he learned they both lived in San Francisco, he knew it was fate that he was supposed to meet Sam.

_ “So,” Gabriel leaned in a little closer, closing the gap between him and Sam even more, “I know it’s your last night, but could I convince you to spend it in my room?” _

__ __ _ Sam smirked. “That’s a little forward.” _

__ __ _ “Well, I obviously don’t have a lot of time left with you, and I’d prefer to spend the rest of it without clothing on,” Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “What do you say?” _

__ __ _ Sam bit his lip and looked Gabriel up and down. “It’d be much more fun than listening to my brother snore all night.” _

__ __ _ “It’s settled then,” Gabriel stood up and fished his wallet out of his back pocket and threw a couple bills on the bar. He turned to Sam and held out his hand. “I can think of a few ways to keep us warm.” He winked and Sam shook his head with a smile. _

__ __ _ “You owe me a real date when you get back to the city, though,” Sam demanded, taking Gabriel’s hand and standing up. _

__ __ _ “I think I can handle those terms,” Gabriel agreed, leading Sam to the elevators that went to his hotel room. _

Gabriel threw an arm over his face and groaned. Sam had been fucking fantastic in bed, and was even sweet enough to stay until Gabriel woke. After some quick morning sex, Sam had to go, but left his number along with several delicious bruises and marks all over Gabriel’s body. He really did mean to call as soon as he got back, but he had an impossible amount of commissions lined up. By the time he got though all of them, it seemed like the socially accepted time period he had to call Sam had passed. He chastised himself for weeks for not giving Sam his number, too.

Finally feeling like he had a little more energy, Gabriel stood up and walked over to his kitchenette. He pulled down a mug with a grumpy cartoon reindeer on it that said “Rude-olph”, and grabbed a packet of Swiss Miss, emptying it into the cup. Without looking, he opened the fridge, pulled out a quart of milk, and poured some into his mug, then put it back. Gabriel opened his silverware drawer and frowned when he saw he had no spoons, then grabbed one out of the embarrassingly full sink and rinsed it off. God, he really needed to find some time to get his life back together. Once the spoon was clean, he stuck it in his mug and stirred it a little, so most of the chocolate clumps dissolved. He stuck it in the microwave and returned to his thoughts of Sam as he waited for his drink to warm up.

The next time he saw Sam, it was already May and he happened to be in front of him at the same Starbucks. Gabriel had stopped there instead of his normal one because he was meeting a client on the other side of town, and when Sam said that it was his usual one, Gabriel was tempted to rearrange his entire route to work.

_ Sam looked down at his feet. “You never called.” _

__ __ _ “I meant to,” Gabriel explained, causing Sam to scoff a bit. “Seriously, Sam. I just got caught up with commissions and then it was like, February and it would have been weird and—“ _

__ __ _ “This isn’t weird, then?” Sam raised an eyebrow. _

__ __ _ Gabriel chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Okay, yeah. Message received.” There was a few moments silence as the tension between them thickened. _

__ __ _ “I’m sorry,” Sam shook his head. “I shouldn’t have bothered you.” _

__ __ _ “What? No!” Gabriel assured him. “I should have—Hey. How about we get lunch? My treat.” _

__ __ _ Sam’s face brightened up and he smiled. “I’d love that. I should be free around noon today.” _

__ __ _ Gabriel winced. “My meeting doesn’t end until one.” _

__ __ _ “Tomorrow?” _

__ __ _ “I’m not back over this way until Tuesday.” _

__ __ _ Sam sighed. “I leave on a business trip on Monday.” _

__ __ _ They reached the counter and Gabriel waved Sam up. “At least let me buy you coffee.” Sam ordered, then Gabriel, and he paid before meeting Sam by the drink pickup. “Where’s your phone?” _

__ __ _ “Uh, here,” Sam pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over. Gabriel quickly entered his number in and sent himself a text. _

__ __ _ “There,” Gabriel passed the phone back and smiled up at Sam. “No more excuses.” _

__ __ _ “Good,” Sam smirked. “I missed you.” _

__ __ _ Gabriel flushed. “I—“ _

__ __ _ “Skinny Caramel Macchiato for Sam?” _

__ __ _ Sam thanked the barista and grabbed his cup. “I’ll text you.” He swooped down and placed a soft kiss on Gabriel’s cheek, a few strands of long hair tickling his neck before pulling away. “Promise.” _

The microwave beeped and Gabriel lowered the hand that he had unconsciously brought to his cheek. He pulled the steaming cup out of the microwave, grabbed the spoon and stirred the rest of the chocolate in, then tossed the dirty spoon back in the sink. The cup was pleasantly warm in his hands and did a wonderful job combating the freezing cold of outside. He walked back over to the couch and sat down, then took a sip.

“Fuck!” Gabriel cursed, the scalding drink burning his tongue. He set the cup down on his end table and frowned at it, disappointed he couldn’t drink it immediately. Shrugging, he decided that he might as well spend the time wrapping the presents he had just bought and got up to look for paper. Most of the supplies were easy to find, but for some reason, he could never find any damn tape. Finally, he found it in a drawer with a bunch of random things including a half-filled tube of Aloe Vera. Why did he…oh yeah. Gabriel sighed as he recalled this summer.

_ Sam kept his promise to text, of course, but their plans never seemed to line up. Around July, they finally were able to both get a weekend off and Sam had invited him out to a party on his boss’s boat. Gabriel was incredibly excited, considering this would be a chance to see Sam half-naked, and that was something he had missed the hell out of. About a week before, he even went shopping for a new pair of trunks, and found that he was abhorrently pale. Sure, getting outside wasn’t exactly a priority for the artist, but he didn’t realize that he was blindingly white. He needed a tan ASAP. _

__ __ _ After checking out several tanning salons, he decided that natural sun was probably his best bet. The day before the party, he grabbed a few supplies and headed up to the roof of his building. He had been told when he moved in that he could use the roof, but at the time, he had no idea what for. When he got up there, he saw a few abandoned lawn chairs and discarded tanning oil bottles, but chose to avoid them and laid his towel out on the other side of the roof. He stripped off his shirt and shimmied out of his jeans so that he was down to his boxer briefs. Once he had set up his iPod and speaker, he put on his sunglasses and laid down to enjoy the sun. The heat was comforting and blanketed him so pleasantly that he quickly dozed off. _

__ __ _ Of course, Gabriel didn’t have the foresight to set an alarm and woke up several hours later in the worst pain of his life. The sun was already starting to go down and his Bluetooth speaker seemed to have died at least an hour before. He attempted to move and let out a slew of curse words that he was sure would make a sailor blush. There was no way that he could make it to Sam’s party the next day. Hell, he’d be lucky if he could even move within the week. With great difficulty and inappropriate words, he gathered up his things and went back down to his apartment. He got in the door and quickly dialed Sam. _

_ “Gabriel?” Sam answered. “Are you alright? You’ve never called before.” _

__ __ _ “My fingers hurt too much to text,” Gabriel groaned. _

__ __ _ “They what? Are you alright?” Sam asked, worried. _

__ __ _ “I’m crazy sunburned,” Gabriel explained. “I went and laid out to work on a tan, then I fell asleep and…yeah.” _

__ __ _ “Oh my God,” Sam gasped. “That must hurt like hell.” _

__ __ _ “Oh, I’m pretty sure this is exactly what hell feels like,” Gabriel winced, then sighed. “I can’t make it to your party tomorrow. I’m so sorry.” _

__ __ _ “No, of course,” Sam replied, the disappointment obvious in his voice. “You’d be miserable.” _

__ __ _ Gabriel closed his eyes, tears stinging them not just because of the pain. “I really wanted to see you. You have no idea.” _

__ __ _ “I do,” Sam assured him. “We’ll figure it out.” He sighed. “Listen, I hate to do this, but I have to go. Take care of yourself, Gabriel.” _

__ __ _ “You too,” Gabriel tossed the phone on the counter once Sam hung up, then dragged himself to the bathroom to run a cold shower, hoping he could also wash away the sound of Sam’s disappointment. _

__ __ Gabriel grabbed the tape and shoved the drawer closed. He needed to stop thinking about Sam. It was stupid and it definitely wasn’t fate, otherwise the universe would stop teasing them. He started on wrapping the presents to keep his thoughts occupied. Once he had gotten through a few, he noticed he had some notifications and decided to take a break. Most of them were invites to Christmas parties or out to drinks that night. No thanks. He wanted to spend Christmas alone this year without any obligations except to fix himself an amazing dinner and drink himself stupid. He remembered the last night he had to himself and of course, Gabriel’s mind drifted again to the same person.

_ After the failed boat party invite, Sam’s texts became sparse and it was obvious why because Gabriel was feeling the same. How much was this actually worth it? His last chance finally came in the form of an invitation to a Halloween party. Well, Gabriel was hardly going to refuse. Sam plus Halloween? It was going to be incredible. _

__ __ _ They worked out the details, and Sam decided that it would be easiest if he picked Gabriel up. At the time, Gabriel’s car was being used by his brother to cart his little cousins around so that was the only option. That night, Gabriel put on his costume, a doctor, and put on a movie while he waited anxiously for Sam to show up. He was so engrossed that by the time it was over, he realized it was an hour after Sam said he was going to be there. Gabriel bit his lip. Was Sam okay? There was no way he would just blow him off so maybe…Gabriel’s phone was in his hand and dialing Sam before he could even finish the thought. _

__ __ _ “Gabriel,” Sam sighed in relief. “I’m so sorry.” _

__ __ _ “What’s up?” Gabriel asked. “Are you alright?” _

__ __ _ “It’s my car,” Sam explained. “There’s a problem with my starter. My brother has been trying to fix it for the past hour, but he’s not even close.” _

__ __ _ “And there’s no way we could get a cab now,” Gabriel supplied. “This fucking sucks.” _

__ __ _ “I know,” Sam agreed. “I’m sorry about all this. There will be another time, I know it.” _

__ __ _ “Yeah,” Gabriel played with the hem of his coat. “Maybe.” _

__ __ _ “Gabriel…” _

__ __ _ “Goodbye, Sam.” _

Gabriel gave in and looked at the message history between him and Sam. After Halloween, there was nothing except for a couple texts wishing each other a happy Thanksgiving. His thumbs hovered over the keyboard, but he shook his head and turned the screen off. He wasn’t getting his hopes up again. It was better if he just forgot about Sam. He turned back to his presents and made a disgusted face at the amount he had left. His stomach rumbled and he agreed with it, deciding to start on his personal dinner.

Over in the kitchen, he already had his small turkey in the oven and he checked it. It was starting to look like it only needed an hour or two more, so he started on his sides. He went over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine, then scanned for the cranberries. Frowning when he didn’t find them, he checked the cabinets. Where the hell was it? Gabriel tore the kitchen apart and there was no trace of the cranberries. There was no damn way he was gonna have Christmas dinner without cranberries. He whipped out his phone and searched for a grocery store that was open and found an all-night Jewish deli open on the other side of town. It’d have to do.

Gabriel grabbed his keys and ran down to his car, hoping he’d make it in time to get back before his turkey started to overcook. Luckily, the streets were pretty empty due to the holiday, and he made it to the neighborhood in record time. Not wasting any time, he ran into the deli and made it to the canned goods aisle. He was so focused on getting his cranberries that he didn’t even notice another person there reaching for the last can as well. Getting ready to fight, he rounded on the person and his jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

“Gabriel?” Sam asked. “What are you doing here on Christmas Eve?”

“Sam?” Gabriel blinked several times, wondering if this was real. “I, um…Spending it alone this year.”

“Me too,” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “This year’s been crazy.”

“Trust me, I know,” Gabriel flashed a small smile, then tilted his head at the cranberries. “You forgot them too?”

“Yeah,” Sam admitted. “Looks like there’s only one though.”

Gabriel bit his lip. “Maybe we could share.”

Sam furrowed his brow in confusion. “It’s a can. Not like we can cut it in half.”

“Well,” Gabriel shrugged, “you could always just come back to my place for dinner.”

“Really?” Sam’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’m alone, you’re alone,” Gabriel grinned. “Let’s be alone together.”

Sam smiled and grabbed the can off the shelf. “Alright, but I’m paying.”

They walked up to the counter and Sam paid for the cranberries, then they walked outside to find that it had started to lightly snow. “Snow in California?” Gabriel looked up.

“I guess it’s a night of miracles, huh?” Sam smiled and looked down at Gabriel. He turned toward him and sighed. “Gabriel, I—“

“Just kiss me, you moose,” Gabriel reached up and grabbed the lapels of Sam’s jacket, pulling him down and crashing their lips together. He pulled away with a grin on his face. “Merry Christmas, Sam.”

Sam went in for one more kiss and grinned as well. “Merry Christmas, Gabriel.”

**Author's Note:**

> Send me presents!  
> Tumblr: @archangelsanonymous   
> Twitter: @Pattypixie


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